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Last year we discussed batteries - what they are, how they work, and how to not blow your peripheral limbs off with them.

Based on recent news reports, it would seem some of us didn't pay enough attention to item number three.

So I think it's appropriate we go over this again, paying particular attention to Lithium Ion batteries and their peculiarities, and how you can avoid ending up like the people in those news reports.

Lithium-ion batteries

Lithium is the third element in the periodic table. It is a metal, is very small as far as atoms go, and is highly reactive. It is also fantastic for making batteries with because of its light weight and ability to store large amounts of energy.

Lithium-ion batteries work by the exchange of electrons. When you charge a lithium-ion battery, an extra electron is forced into orbit around the atomic nucleus, creating an atom of ionised lithium. Then, when you connect your battery to something that draws electricity, the electrons break free of the lithium atom and flow into your device.

When lithium-ion batteries turn bad

If you abuse them, the components of the lithium-ion batteries can fail, particularly the electrolyte substance. Best-case scenario is your battery just won't work anymore. Worst-case?

Why do lithium-ion batteries fail?

The most common cause of the runaway exothermic reaction (aka go boom) that can occur in LiON batteries is degradation of one or more components causing chemical reactions that shouldn't occur. This degradation is most commonly caused by excessive heat. The heat breaks down the electrolyte sheet, or the circuitry that prevents overheating, causing a chemical reaction that causes more heat, that causes more degradation, that causes more heat... until the thing flares up like a firework.

Overcharging

If you push too much current into a LiON battery, there will be a build-up of heat that causes degradation of the electrolyte.

Over-discharging

If you try and draw too much power from the battery, again you will degrade the electrolyte, causing extra chemical reactions that will increase the temperature of the battery.

Overheating

Operating the battery at too high a temperature will cause the components to break down, damaging the circuitry that prevents excessive temperature.

Short-circuit

This goes for most batteries, but particularly LiON batteries. Creating a short-circuit will create a runaway heat situation that never ends well.

Stabbing it with a knife

Or any sharp object, really. Piercing the layers of anode, cathode and electrolyte will almost always result in a flare-up.

Lithium-ion batteries and e-cigs

LiON batteries have their dangers no matter what they are being used for, but e-cig owners need to be vigilant about:

1. Heat

We all love our massively subohm builds and giant clouds, and to get these we are going to be working with high temperatures. This is where the design of your mod is crucial - cheap knock-offs or just poorly-designed units can put the battery too close to the hot parts.

2. Charging

You've heard the mantra: "never charge your batteries unattended", and you'd do well to heed it. Even if you've got a proper charger with full-charge cutoff circuitry, you can't guarantee it will never fail. And even if it doesn't happen to explode in the charger, it can still explode in your pocket or your face when you fire your mod up.

3. Discharging

I get it. We're envelope-pushers. We get the most power we can to get the biggest, most satisfying clouds. Unfortunately, dragging too much power out of a battery is a great way to destroy it and possibly bits of yourself. It is crucial that you know what your battery is capable of before using it in a mod, especially a mechanical mod.

4. Non-genuine batteries

Hard as it is to believe, there are people in this world who care more about making money than human safety and welfare. Some of them may even get cheap, poorly made LiON batteries and re-wrap them so they can sell them for a higher price. With batteries getting harder to come by these days, it is absolutely vital you make sure you are buying genuine batteries.

5. Poorly-made mods

Genuine mods are expensive for a reason - people spend hours perfecting the design and only using the best materials. As mentioned in point 1, mods need to protect the batteries by avoiding short-circuits, over-heating and over-discharge. Knock-offs from people who don't know what they are doing are dangerous because these measures may not be in place.

How to vape and not end up on the news for all the wrong reasons

The reality is that the dangers of LiON batteries failing are fairly low all things considered. As an e-cig user, follow these steps to make sure you don't add to the toll:

1. Watch your temperature

If your mod starts to feel hot to the touch, give it a rest!

2. Buy a proper mod

Don't be a cheapskate. Save that little bit extra to get a properly-made device that has the necessary protections built in. This goes double for mech mods.

3. Buy good batteries

Refer point 2. Buy from a vendor you know is responsible.

4. Buy a proper charger

It needs to have short-circuit protection and full-charge cutoff features. And "never charge your batteries unattended".

5. Buy an ohms meter.

Building your own coils? Using a mech mod? Buy an ohms meter and don't push the envelope past its limits.

6. Treat your gear with respect

Just like your dog, don't leave your mod in the car on a hot day. But unlike your dog, rolling the window down won't help.

If you drop it, inspect it for damage. And by inspect it for damage, I DON'T mean try firing it up to see if it still works. Check your mod for any broken internals (as best you can) and don't use the battery until you've checked it with a multimeter.

Store your batteries at room temperature. Don't put them in the fridge, you'll wreck them. Just don't leave them in the sun or behind the TV.

Share the love

Now you have all this wonderful knowledge, don't keep it to yourself! Make sure all your vaping friends know how to use LiON batteries safely. At the very least you'll save $30-odd at the hospital flower shop.

This study was a longitudinal study, which is where they take data from a set group of subjects at set time intervals.

In this case, they surveyed 2,338 students aged between 14-15 at one point in time then followed them up one year later. They examined whether they vaped and/or smoked cigarettes, along with whether their parents influenced their behaviour, how rebellious they were and how disposed towards cheap thrills they were (psychosocial covariates for short).

The method

The researchers busted out a questionnaire designed to answer the following questions:

1. What their family support structure was like (single parent, step-parent, biological parents, extended family).

2. How educated their parents were

3. Have they ever heard of e-cigarettes

4. Do they think e-cigs are healthier than tobacco

5. How often they vape

6. How often they smoke

They also hit them with the old "how true is this statement on a scale" type of questions, with answers ranging from "not at all true for me" to "very true for me" on either a five- or seven-point scale. The statements included:

1. "When I feel bad about something, my parent will listen"

2. "My parent knows where I am after school"

3. "I like to do dangerous things for fun"

4. "I like to break the rules"

The surveys were completed once, then again one year later.

The results

Both cigarette and e-cigarette use increased over the space of the year.

The conclusion

The authors of the paper determined that (to paraphrase) for whatever reason, e-cigarette use seemed to act as a gateway to cigarette use.

Are these results reliable?

It may come as no surprise to you that I have a few bones to pick with this study.

The survey says...?

The study did not publish the full results of the survey, which is fair enough. You can't cram all of that paperwork into a six-page PDF.

But they also didn't publish all of the questions they asked. The questions I wrote above were a sample of the kinds of questions they asked. So we can't know if all the questions were appropriate for collecting the data they required. We also can't know if any of the questions were liable to skew the results at all.

OK, fair enough, I am nitpicking here, but still...

The gateway hypothesis...?

Is the gateway hypothesis based on fact? Is it such an established theory that it can be taken as a given that it exists?

No, don't panic, I'm not muddying my boots in these particular waters. What I am concerned about, though, is that this paper seems to use the gateway hypothesis to make the results seem self-evident.

For example:

"The reasons for the effect of e-cigarette use on transition to smoking remain to be clarified, but plausible hypotheses have been suggested" (Wills et al, 2015).

So... your data shows that both e-cigarette use and tobacco use increased, but doesn't explain how or why? OK, so your data basically shows... nothing.

We all know that teenagers are rebellious and thrill-seeking. We all know that a number of them experiment with tobacco and other drugs at young ages. There's a lot of noise in there; did throwing e-cigs into the mix really have an effect?

Correlation equals causation...?

I must admit I had a little chuckle when I was reading the results. To paraphrase (heavily), it went a little something like this:

"OK, so, kids who used e-cigs also started smoking. We don't know why, but here are some really good ideas..."

Essentially, all this paper did was show a correlation between kids who started using e-cigs and kids who started smoking. And for those playing at home...

Correlation does NOT imply causation.

To make this easier to understand, here are some shocking correlations:

The takeaway

This is all very well and good, Lloyd, but what's the takeaway here? How is the knowledge of this one particular study supposed to help me?

I'm glad you asked!

First and most importantly, you may have recently heard that there is movement in the SA legislature to regulate e-cigs and the like under the same laws as tobacco. One of the common cries of adherents to this movement is that e-cigarette use is linked to increased tobacco use amongst minors. You may even hear this study cited at you because of its recency. Well, now you can say "actually, NO, that study did not show a causative link, and failed to take into account the tendency of teenagers to try whatever is going around at the time, and wasn't transparent in publishing its conclusions, so NER!"

Secondly, being the skeptic that I am, I am always keen to encourage anyone who will listen to me to take a skeptical look at things. And with such a politically charged issue such as the usage of e-cigarettes, you need to be on your guard and take every bit of evidence, both for and against your position, with a grain of salt. This study, as is the case with a lot that I've seen, seemed biased from the outset with statements such as:

"...it is important to have evidence from different settings on the relation between ecigarette [sic] use and smoking" (Wills et al, 2015).

This is a case of begging the question - "we know that e-cig use leads to smoking, we just need some more evidence that shows it". Sorry, but this study fails to represent evidence. You may as well just submit it to tylervigen.com for a laugh.

There is a great article on Forbes that basically says the same thing as I just have, but in far fewer and more professional-sounding words. Check it out here.

Gah! All so scary! So let's examine this torrent of information to see if there's any truth to it.

What is Diacetyl?

Diacetyl is the artificial flavouring responsible for that "buttery" flavour we all know and love.

More technically, "Diacetyl (IUPACsystematic name: butanedione or butane-2,3-dione) is an organic compound with the chemical formula (CH3CO)2. It is a yellow/green liquid with an intensely buttery flavor. It is a vicinaldiketone (two C=O groups, side-by-side) with the molecular formula C4H6O2. Diacetyl occurs naturally in alcoholic beverages and is added to some foods to impart its buttery flavor" (thanks Wikipedia!).

Although it has a scary name, Diacetyl is a naturally occurring compound. It is mainly a by-product of some fermentation processes, and along with its good friend Acetoin is naturally present in actual real-life butter.

What is Popcorn Lung?

Popcorn Lung is what bronchiolitis obliterans is more commonly known as. It was called "popcorn lung" or "popcorn worker's lung" as it came to public awareness thanks to the poor souls in the aforementioned Missouri microwave popcorn facility back in 2000.

Popcorn Lung is "a rare and life-threatening form of non-reversible obstructive lung disease in which the bronchioles (small airway branches) are compressed and narrowed by fibrosis (scar tissue) and/or inflammation" (thanks again Wikipedia). It is progressive, non-reversible and the only way to treat it is with a lung transplant.

As far as lung diseases go, this one is a doozey and should definitely not be on your bucket list.

What does any of this have to do with e-cigarettes?

Since Diacetyl is a widely used artificial flavouring, it was initially used in e-liquids that needed a buttery flavour. This posed an obvious problem because - y'know, bronchiolitis obliterans and stuff. And although most reputable and responsible e-liquid manufacturers have not used Diacetyl in their e-liquids for years, the fact remains that it has been found in some e-cigarette products.

Fast-forward until now and the media have suddenly decided they need something new to scare people away from vaping, hence such startling headlines of late. But the fact remains that if you do vape e-liquid that contains Diacetyl for extended periods of time, you are at risk of the dreaded Popcorn Lung.

I want to vape, but I REALLY don't want to get Popcorn Lung. What should I do???

Fear not my young padawans. There are some very simple steps you can take to keep on vaping and ensure you don't end up with an irreversible chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that will leave you requiring a lung transplant.

As mentioned above, most responsible e-liquid manufacturers ceased using Diacetyl as a flavouring as soon as they realised the potential danger. Unfortunately, not all e-liquid manufacturers are responsible; some don't use proper QC methods, some don't mix in a clean room, and some don't pay very much attention to the safety of the ingredients they use.

2. Only buy from vendors with a high trust factor.

Any fly-by-nighter can throw a few ingredients together in a shed. Pick a vendor with a solid reputation either by way of social media or trusted third-party review sites.

3. Check the ingredients list.

If you've picked a good vendor, the ingredients will be listed on the bottle. If they aren't - contact them and ask. If you aren't satisfied with their response - go elsewhere.

4. Avoid "buttery" flavours.

If you want to be extra-careful, you can just avoid buttery flavours altogether. This suits some people who prefer fruity or spicy flavours just fine, but could make life difficult for those of us who just love our pastry and custard flavours.

5. Mix your own e-liquid.

Again, there are great swathes of vaping enthusiasts who do this because they want to. If you are the one adding the ingredients, you can know with 100% certainty what's going into them - although, of course, you would still be well-advised to check off the above points with your flavouring supplier...

Oh no! I've just realised my all-day-vape contains Diacetyl! Am I going to suffer from a horrible and protracted illness?

Don't go asking your rellies to reach for their donor cards just yet.

The CDC, who investigated the Missouri popcorn factory case, noted that Diacetyl inhalation in high concentrations and/or volumes over an extended period were one factor in the development of the disease. They also noted that the mixers - who basically had their head over a big bowl of the stuff all day every day - had the worst of it, with the most severe symptoms developing after 12 months of continuous exposure of this kind (check the source here).

There was one reported case of a man contracting Popcorn Lung from eating microwave popcorn. This particular guy ate two to three bags of extra-buttery popcorn every day for a decade.

Lastly, it is common knowledge in medical circles that the disease is rare, and may even be idiopathic (medical speak for "no idea how it happened"). It's also not a guarantee that inhaling Diacetyl vapour will give you the disease - it simply puts you in the risk category.

In all likelihood, unless you're already experiencing the symptoms of wheezing, shortness of breath and difficulty exhaling, you're probably in the clear, and discontinuing use of your Diacetyl-laden e-liquid will be enough to keep you there.

So there you have it, folks - the skinny on Diacetyl, Popcorn Lung, e-liquids and not needing a lung transplant. Remember that if you hear a scary headline telling you e-cigs will kill you, it always pays to get to the source and get the facts straight. Because in this case, as in so many others, the facts don't seem to have gotten in the way of a good news story.

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You may have recently come across news of a new study from the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK which states that nicotine is no more harmful to your health than caffeine.

For those interested, you can grab a copy of the report here. It was presented along with a news article on RSPH's website. You can find the page here.

You may notice that nowhere in the report does it actually state "nicotine is no more harmful to your health than caffeine" - this is the headline of the news article.

BUT - in what I must admit was a welcome surprise, the information in the report actually does back this statement up.

Imagine that - a halfway accurate headline. Who'd have thunked it?

Below you will find the two statements from the report and the news article used to come up with this assertion. And because this is a blog post, you will also find my rambling opinions regarding them, followed by some more general chit-chat about the report itself. So here goes.

Statement #1 (from the report):

"Evidence suggests that, when consumed in low concentrations, nicotine is not deleterious to health; it does not appear to be a direct carcinogen and, whilst its use can increase heart rate, is not associated with an increase in acute cardiovascular events amongst users (although it must not be used in pregnancy)" (Rsph.org.uk 2015).

Use increases heart rate... must not be used in pregnancy... sound familiar?

No pregnant women were caffeinated during the taking of this photo.

Caffeine does the same thing, and also happens to not be a direct carcinogen or associated with an increase in acute cardiovascular events.

Of course, the reality is far more intricate and complicated than this, but approximating the effects of nicotine and caffeine as at least similar is not too much of a stretch really.

Statement #2 (from the news article):

"Getting people onto nicotine rather than using tobacco would make a big difference to the public’s health – clearly there are issues in terms of having smokers addicted to nicotine, but this would move us on from having a serious and costly public health issue from smoking related [sic] disease to instead address the issue of addiction to a substance which in and of itself is not too dissimilar to caffeine addiction” (Rsph.org.uk 2015).

So here, being addicted to nicotine is stated as being "not too dissimilar" to being addicted to caffeine.

This is a thorny issue - is addiction to a substance in and of itself a bad thing; why is it acceptable to be addicted to some chemicals and not to others; you could argue we are "addicted" to food, air, warmth etc so where does this slippery slope end; on and on we could go. But - we won't.

The important distinction to make here is exactly what you are addicted to. If you smoke, you are addicted to nicotine, and if you habitually drink coffee, you are addicted to caffeine. But you can get caffeine without drinking coffee, just like you can get nicotine without smoking cigarettes. Because drinking a nice hot cup of coffee doesn't carry a plethora of associated ills and harms with it, caffeine addiction is not frowned upon in society. But smoking cigarettes does, and public attitude towards smoking has very much turned to the negative.

Pictured: a not-frowned-upon way of staying up all night

As it happens, I personally am addicted to both caffeine and nicotine. I can get both very conveniently at pretty much any supermarket, petrol station or convenience store. The withdrawals from both are equally unpleasant, and the relief from getting a fix equally instantaneous. However, one delivery system slightly warms me up for a few minutes and gives me bad breath, and the other delivery system slowly eats me alive from the inside out. Is, therefore, my nicotine addiction worse than my caffeine addiction? Or are we in logical fallacy land? ("argument from final consequences" for those playing at home).

Do not make me caffeine-deprived. You wouldn't like me when I'm caffeine-deprived.

I choose not to kick my caffeine habit because 1. I like the cognitive benefits caffeine confers and 2. I can get it in a non-harmful delivery system.

Can't I choose not to kick my nicotine habit because 1. I like the cognitive benefits nicotine confers and 2. I can now get it in a much less harmful delivery system?

Other things from the report

Key points of the report:

Smoking kills an estimated 100,000 people in the UK each year. It is the leading cause of death in the UK and kills more people than the next five causes combined.

Tobacco contains many harmful carcinogens and toxicants on top of nicotine, and it's these that are causing all the harm, not the nicotine itself.

90% of people surveyed in the UK still believe that nicotine in and of itself is harmful to health, but there is no evidence suggesting as much.

There are much safer sources of nicotine available; why would any sane government that cares about the health of its constituency not use them to curtail smoking (interestingly, in the UK, the cost to public health from smoking-related illnesses outstrips tobacco revenue by a whopping £1 billion, and a 2014 University College London study estimated that for every one million UK smokers that move to e-cigarettes, 6,000 premature deaths could be avoided each year).

The best way we can protect our vaping interests is to arm ourselves with the evidence and be ready to lay it all out for anyone who asks us. The vaping battle is being waged in the arena of public opinion, so the more we can do to influence it, the better.

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First, this is based only on my personal experience of quitting, and what worked for me. This is not medical advice and should not be treated as such. If you need help to quit smoking, please consult your GP or licenced pharmacist first.

Second, Vapoureyes is a supplier of personal lifestyle products. It does not promote, endorse, stock or supply therapeutic nicotine or smoking cessation aids. E-cigarettes, advanced personal vapourisers and e-liquids are not, and are not intended to be, quit-smoking tools. If you are looking for smoking cessation aids or therapeutic nicotine, please consult your GP or licenced pharmacistregarding the options available.

Lastly, the below is anecdotal, and is intended to be helpful, friendly advice from someone who has successfully quit smoking. This advice is not based on medical research or evidence and may or may not be helpful to you. Please take it for what it is, and consult your GP or licenced pharmacist if you are having trouble quitting.

You may be browsing the Vapoureyes store because you want to quit smoking and have heard vaping is a good way to do it.

Vaping products are not recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration as smoking cessation devices, and as such cannot be sold or marketed as quit-smoking aids.

That being said, the reality is that many people have successfully quit smoking by switching to vaping, including yours truly.

Quitting smoking is hard. Many people struggle with it for years, and some never successfully do it. And whilst vaping is part of my quitting success story, it was not the only factor and it was still hard work.

In this blog post, I will share what I learned when I quit smoking. This is not medical advice, but it's based on my own experience along with countless conversations I've had with other successful quitters, with the recurring themes distilled and laid out for you. Because at the end of the day, to quit smoking is one of the hardest things you will ever do, and you will need all the help you can get.

So, in no particular order, here are the most important things I learned when I quit smoking:

The Cravings

This is the first thing you encounter. Your lungs feel funny, like they're yelling at you. Your mouth goes dry, your sinuses hurt, you get a headache. You become irritable and stressed. The world seems to stare menacingly at you and you feel like jumping out of your skin.

The bad news

Your cravings will never go away. They get less intense and occur less frequently, but they will always be there.

The good news

Your cravings will never go away. They get less intense and occur less frequently, but they will always be there.

Huh? How the heck is that good news? I'm glad you asked.

If you think that one day you will be free of cravings, you will fail in your attempt to quit smoking. Why? Because one month, or three months, or one year or more down the track, you will get hit with a craving out of the blue, get depressed and ticked off, feel like you've failed as a non-smoker and probably end up lighting a ciggie because to hell with the world.

You need to accept that cravings were always a part of your life as a smoker, and they will always be a part of your life as a non-smoker. You can't run away from them, so why try? Instead, remember:

1. They only ever last a few minutes. Distract yourself until you're strong enough to just ignore them for a few minutes. You don't need tobacco to kill a craving.

2. Treat cravings as your friend. Yes, really! See them as a sign that you are taking back control of your body and your health, and your body is repairing the damage done by smoking.

3. Tell someone when you're struggling. Don't bottle it all up inside, get help from the people around you to distract you and to help you focus on the positive thing you are doing.

The Habit

Humans are funny creatures. We have this inbuilt tendency to run on auto-pilot. Like when you're driving home from your friend's house and can't remember the last ten minutes of the journey and hope you didn't run any red lights.

The nature of addiction means that an addictive habit embeds itself and sends tendrils out into every facet of your life. Smoking becomes part of your wake-up routine, your commute to work, your morning coffee break, your lunch break, your 3 o'clockitis, your social life, your family life, your leisure time and your partying. Breaking this habit is a major part of the battle.

The best way to break a habit is replacing it with a new habit, and this is where we come back to our old friend Mr Cravings.

If you break it down, the habit of smoking tobacco is simply the habit of giving in to cravings. SO - replace the habit of giving in to cravings with the habit of resisting cravings.

For me personally, I liked to have a little brain sub-routine I ran every time I hit a craving, like a little speech I rehearsed that was a counter-argument to why I should give in.

"No, I do not need tobacco. Yes, it would be really nice to submit, but I am thinking of my whole life and not just the next minute. No, I cannot have 'just one', and no I am not a social pariah for quitting. Have a nice day". This becomes a habit, in the same way giving in was a habit. And, thanks to the good old lazy human brain, the more you do it, the more you run on autopilot until it just becomes part of the background noise of your life.

The Manipulative Voice

This is the part that weirded me out the most.

You see, gentle reader - your brain is a d******bag.

And tobacco is a drug that alters certain neurons, programming them to scream at you when it's time for a fix. Yes, tobacco actually commandeers part of your brain and turns it against you.

This little part of your brain doesn't care about your health, or your future, or your family, or your bank balance; it only cares about getting nicotine, and when it wants it, it wants it NOW.

And the weird part is, this little part of your brain manifests itself as that manipulative voice in your ear:

"Aw, come on! Just have one, it won't hurt!"

"You're feeling really down, you should have just one cigarette to cheer yourself up!"

"You're feeling really happy, you should have just one cigarette to celebrate!"

"See? All the people who know you're a smoker think you're weird for giving up. They're sick of your grouchiness! Just have one already and give them a break!"

It's so subtle you don't notice it. And - it's you. It's your own voice, making logical arguments for why you should have a cigarette, which is why it's so hard to argue with.

The best defence is to remind yourself of this. It's not reason, it's not logic, it's not even common sense - it's just a little piece of your brain throwing a temper tantrum. Remind yourself that you know better than to be manipulated by your own brain, give it a smack and send it to its room without any dinner. It will get the idea eventually.

The Three Threes

My fourth little tidbit ties the first three together.

As you go along your quitting journey, remember the three threes:

The first three days

It takes three days for the physical withdrawals to stop. After three days, your body is no longer chemically dependent on tobacco to function. Headaches, dry mouth, dizziness and nausea should all be over.

The first three weeks

It takes three weeks to break the habit of putting a cigarette in your mouth, lighting it and sucking on it. The best strategy to tackle this is to replace this with another habit, such as eating a carrot stick, or going for a run, or doing some other task that takes your attention away from smoking.

The first three months

It takes three months to break your psychological dependence on tobacco. This is the time you will do battle with that rogue part of your brain. This is the period in which you will eventually look at the clock and see "10.30am" instead of "ciggie o'clock", and in which you will one day realise you don't have to restrain yourself from reaching for a cancer stick as soon as you pull out of the driveway.

Now don't get me wrong - it's not like you pass some magical invisible barrier at three months and one day since you quit and suddenly it's no longer an issue. But if you can make it past the first three months, you've won the majority of the battle.

Pro tips for younger players

Go easy on yourself. Smoking tobacco is one of the worst things you can consciously do to yourself, and quitting is one of the hardest things you can consciously attempt. It's tough! So you yelled at the kids or kicked the cat. Don't beat yourself up. So you binged on an entire box of Krispy Kremes or drank a whole 2-litre bottle of soft drink in one go. Don't let it get you down. Obviously these are non-ideal behaviours, but you're a human being doing something incredibly difficult. Chalk it up to experience and move on.

If you cave in and have a smoke, don't give up on giving up. So you gave in and had a ciggie, and now you feel like the world's biggest failure and hell you may as well go and buy two 50-packs and smoke yourself silly. Well, you're not, and no you may as well not. Just because you had a cigarette doesn't mean you failed at quitting. You fell off the horse. Stand up, dust yourself off, get back on and keep going. Resisting one craving is an achievement and going without for one day is a milestone. Cut yourself some slack.

If you have to use something else to quit smoking - do it! The first time I quit I went cold turkey. The second time I replaced smoking tobacco with - something else (totally not recommended). The third time I used patches. Now, the fourth time, I used e-cigarettes. Plus there's champix, gum, lozenges, meditation, hypnotherapy, exercise, having kids, etc etc etc. Some solutions are good, some - not so much (I'll let you decide, I'm not endorsing anything here). But if it works for you, do it! There is no "right" and "wrong" way to quit. There is only going from being a smoker to being a non-smoker, and however you need to get there is OK.

The good news is that it IS possible to quit smoking FOR GOOD. There is no more shame in seeking help than there is in needing it, so don't try to go it alone. If your friends aren't supportive of your efforts to quit, they aren't your friends, so forget them and hang with the people who will encourage and help you. Go to the doctor or the pharmacy first, call the quitline if you're struggling, and if you choose to make vaping a part of your arsenal, you'll have a whole community around you only too happy to help you succeed.

A little bit about us...

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